What happens if probate hadn't been done for first deceased parent

[wilko73]

I have applied for probate for mum's estate,well at least the solicitor has, I employed them on a form filling only basis and the forms have just been sent off.
Me being a worrier I'm wondering if my mother actually did probate for my father when he died as my mother wouldn't have been able to cope doing that.So I'm wondering did anyone ever find themselves with that problem.I'm using dad's unused NRB.
Hopefully his estate didn't require probate the home had already been transferred to mum years before his death and I don't know if steps had been taken to join their bank accounts etc as he was ill for years with cancer so perhaps my dad took steps to make things smoother for mum.It worries me though as if there is problems then that's going to drag out mum's probate as I would have to go back to dad's first and do his.

I wouldn't know what would happens then and can't see that the solicitor would get involved in my dad's estate as surely the remit would only be to prepare mum's,for all I know mum's might even have to be applied for a second time if it's refused on first application if dad's probate is outstanding.I live in fear of more work being done and more solicitors e mails having to be paid for.
Dad died 26 years ago so there wouldn't be any record of bank accounts anyway so how do they even decide if it should have been done or not,am I likely to run in to problems with this?

[Pezza54]

You should search on the Probate Registry using your father's name, date of death and address. You can obtain a copy of the will for a small fee
The register should be able to tell you the value of the estate and the names of the beneficiaries
The solicitor will want this information

[Pezza54]

Has your mother left her property to a direct descendant?
You mentioned TNRB for your father
There is a possibility of the estate benefitting from RNRB and TRNRB
The IHT rules about TRNRB are surprising
Check with your solicitor

Are you valuing estate assets (property, bank accounts etc) or is the solicitor doing this?

[wilko73]

You should search on the Probate Registry using your father's name, date of death and address. You can obtain a copy of the will for a small fee
The register should be able to tell you the value of the estate and the names of the beneficiaries
The solicitor will want this information

Hi the solicitor took a copy of dad's will,death certificate and marriage certificate at the start of preparing mum's probate so these things could be looked at I assume by the probate office.,hey sent off the papers last week

[wilko73]

Has your mother left her property to a direct descendant?
You mentioned TNRB for your father
There is a possibility of the estate benefitting from RNRB and TRNRB
The IHT rules about TRNRB are surprising
Check with your solicitor

Are you valuing estate assets (property, bank accounts etc) or is the solicitor doing this?

Hi the property is left to me and it's always been my home.We are going to use mum's NRB and dad's NRB as that covers the value of the estate and no RNRB is being used so no IHT forms have to be filled in.It's believed to be an excepted estate

[PallasAthena]

It will take only a few minutes to check the government probate site to see if probate has been granted. It costs nothing to check, and only about a £1 if you also want to download it.

Do that and then you don't need to spend time speculating whether Probate was granted.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

[wilko73]

You should search on the Probate Registry using your father's name, date of death and address. You can obtain a copy of the will for a small fee
The register should be able to tell you the value of the estate and the names of the beneficiaries
The solicitor will want this information

I've just checked that probate registry there appears to be no entry,some people say though that probate doesn't have to always be done so I'm hoping that maybe the case for my father

[wilko73]

It will take only a few minutes to check the government probate site to see if probate has been granted. It costs nothing to check, and only about a £1 if you also want to download it.

Do that and then you don't need to spend time speculating whether Probate was granted.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Hi I checked it and there was no mention of probate,I have heard people say that probate doesn't always have to be done so I hope that could be the case with my father

[wilko73]

The home was already in mum's name and the accounts may have been joined so passed to mum not needing probate or such a small amount in accounts that probate wasn't required.I wonder if the probate office is going to try and get bank account details for 1999 that I imagine wouldn't even be held and who would know where held anyway?

[Pezza54]

Please read IHT 402

The solicitor is going to need as much info as you can provide to complete the form

In particular the form states that if there isn't any formal records available, the form filler should contact relatives and close friends of the deceased

The solicitor will need to ask you questions regarding your father's estate to make sure they are completing the form as accurately as possible

[wilko73]

Please read IHT 402

The solicitor is going to need as much info as you can provide to complete the form

In particular the form states that if there isn't any formal records available, the form filler should contact relatives and close friends of the deceased

The solicitor will need to ask you questions regarding your father's estate to make sure they are completing the form as accurately as possible

Hi I gave them a death certificate for Dad and the marriage certificate and also a copy of his will that's all I had,oh well if there's a problem the solicitor will get back to me,I imagine that if there are problems then it's going to end up wiping out my mum's estate in extra fees

[PallasAthena]

I wonder if the probate office is going to try and get bank account details for 1999 that I imagine wouldn't even be held and who would know where held anyway?

The Probate office doesn't check any values. They just use whatever the executors tell them after HMRC have approved the IHT values declarations.

It's HMRC who might investigate the values declared by the Executors for IHT purposes. But HMRC themselves don't routinely check the values declared to them (other than property values) although they can if they suspect fraud. If they want more information they will ask the Executors to provide it. HMRC need to be satisfied with the declared values before they authorise Probate office to issue Probate. If the Estate is clearly an excepted estate below IHT threshold (as you believe it is) they will not spend a lot of time on it.

You are correct that banks will not be able to provide 1997 bank statements so the Executors must use their best endeavours to estimate the Estate value at that time.

[wilko73]

The Probate office doesn't check any values. They just use whatever the executors tell them after HMRC have approved the IHT values declarations.

It's HMRC who might investigate the values declared by the Executors for IHT purposes. But HMRC themselves don't routinely check the values declared to them (other than property values) although they can if they suspect fraud. If they want more information they will ask the Executors to provide it. HMRC need to be satisfied with the declared values before they authorise Probate office to issue Probate. If the Estate is clearly an excepted estate below IHT threshold (as you believe it is) they will not spend a lot of time on it.

You are correct that banks will not be able to provide 1997 bank statements so the Executors must use their best endeavours to estimate the Estate value at that time.

Mum's figures are ok,so you think they might not really investigate dad's situation in 1999 and just approve probate for mum

[Pezza54]

Hi I gave them a death certificate for Dad and the marriage certificate and also a copy of his will that's all I had,oh well if there's a problem the solicitor will get back to me,I imagine that if there are problems then it's going to end up wiping out my mum's estate in extra fees

Who was named as executor in your father's will?

[PallasAthena]

Mum's figures are ok,so you think they might not really investigate dad's situation in 1999 and just approve probate for mum

Sorry, I can't answer that. Your solicitor is best placed to answer that question.